


Be My Valentine

by Jase



Category: Emmerdale, robron
Genre: Boys In Love, M/M, Secret Crush, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:53:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22681261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jase/pseuds/Jase
Summary: It's days before Valentine's and Aaron is dumped by his first girlfriend. He doesn't know exactly what he's feeling.
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Comments: 12
Kudos: 144





	1. Chapter 1

**PART 1**

* * *

Heartbreak. That's what the feeling had to be. It had to. What else could it be?

Holly had been his first girlfriend, his first love, so all of this was new to him. It was only days before Valentine's, and Holly had pulled the rug from below his feet. She caught him off guard. Dumped him. Holly Barton had dumped him and all Aaron could do was hide away in his room nuts ng what he knew had to be heartbreak.

He had hid away all day in there, avoided his mom like the black plague, ignored any call, didn't bother with text messages. This feeling. This empty feeling he felt was weird, and he didn't know what to make of it. It had felt almost like the weight of an entire house had been lifted from his chest, his lungs felt like they expanded, and he thought, this was what heartbreak must feel like.

A soft knock at his door pulled him from his hazy thoughts only seconds before his mother's voice spoke through the door.

"Everything okay, luv?" She was worried. Of course she was. Always in his business, how would this be any different. "You wanna talk about it?"

"No." He nearly barked, hated the fact she had caught the whole thing. Of course she would have, she had been spying on him, like usual.

"Aaron." She softly called his name. "It might make you feel better to talk about it. Maybe I can help you win her back?"

Win her back? Did he want her back? Part of him desperately wanted it. It was the normal thing after all. All the other lads his age had girlfriends. Adam, and his brothers all had girlfriends. Robert had a girlfriend. Robert always had a girlfriend. Even when he had a girlfriend, he'd often kiss other girls. God, how he wished he could be like Robert. Robert was great. Robert was perfect really.

"I don't want to talk about it. Just leave me  _ alone! _ " 

The silence that followed told him she took the hint. She was gone. He was alone again with his thoughts, with his heartbreak. 

He settled into his bed and began to place his headphones over his head when another sound grabbed his attention. A sharp tap followed by another one moments after. It was his window.something was hitting his window.

He rolled his eyes expecting his best mate Adam to be out there, and stood frozen when he noticed it wasn't. It was Robert.

A rush of something flowed through him, something he couldn't quite place, or something he couldn't quite comprehend. He felt his cheeks flush with a bit of heat, and he waved.

He could see Robert making a face as he gestured with his arms. He was making some form of gesture.

"Open your flipping window, Dingle!" He hissed through gritted teeth trying to keep it low.

Aaron shook his head, the fuzziness at Robert's presence making him a bit slow, and then stepped towards his window. 

"Fuck." He hissed to himself when the window wouldn't budge. The house was old, very old, and on nights like these when humidity was high enough, the wood in the windows would swell. Of course it had to happen now when the coolest lad in school was trying to talk to him. 

He put everything he had in him and pulled, then pushed, and eventually the window opened. He looked out just in time to have Robert come face to face with him. They were inches apart. He could see the dust of freckles that peppered Robert's face across his cheeks and the bridge is his nose. They were close, close enough for him to take in the green in Robert's eyes, and the slight of blue he had never noticed before.

Robert really was perfect.

"You gonna just stand there?" Robert's voice was quiet. "I can't hold on much longer. If you don't move for me to come in...you're probably going to have to call for an ambulance after I break arse falling from here." He chuckled.

"Oh…" Aaron quickly moved out of the way, and watched as Robert's legs crawled through his window, his head nearly banging into it, and finally he was all in.

"I heard about Holly." Robert said, his voice a mixture of sadness and concern.

Of course he'd be concerned. Robert Sugden with the heart of gold. Or at least he was with him. Robert had a side to him no one else really saw, a side only Aaron ever got the privilege to witness. 

He still remembers when he first met him. His first day at school, shortly after he had first moved back to the village with his mom. Robert had befriended him, no questions asked. Robert the coolest lad in school had always been nice to him.

"You okay?" Robert asked pulling him from his thoughts.

All Aaron could purse his lips and shrug. It was an honest answer really. He didn't really know how he was. Everything told him he should be heartbroken, but he'd never experienced it before.

"Single just in time for Valentine's." Robert sighed as he walked past Aaron, and threw himself into Aaron's bed.

"Looks like it."

"You wanna talk about it?" Robert asked, his voice was soft, softer than usual, as if really asking something, something beyond the words he had spoken. It disarmed him.

"What does heartbreak feel like?" The question left his lips before he even realized.

Robert lifted himself off the bed and leaned back on his elbows, his brows scrunched, and his eyes carefully trained on Aaron's. "What...how would I know?" He played it cool.

"Don't be a prat. I know how you were when Katie dumped you the first time."

Robert's brows scrunched closer together and he opened his mouth, then closed it, unable to speak. "To be honest." He sat up and clasped his hands together. "I don't know. Not really."

"But...don't you love her?" A weird feeling rolled through his stomach as he asked.

"I...I don't know. Sometimes I think I do." He said as he closed his eyes, thinking deep. "I definitely feel something for her, but it's not the same, not like what I feel for…" He quickly clammed up, his lips sealed shut, and eyes widened as if he almost said something he did not mean to say.

Aaron stared at him quizzically. Something had completely changed in Robert's demeanor. He had looked so comfortable before, concerned even, and now, now he looked panicked.

"I dunno, I guess we just fight...all the damn time." Robert swiftly changed the subject. "Can you really love someone you kind of hate?"

"You hate her?"

Robert's face had another change, one of guilt this time. He reached back, placing a hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it. "Kind of."

"So...so what are you doing with her?"

"I...don't know, really. I guess, it's the normal thing to do right? Have a girlfriend."

"That's pretty messed up, Robert. Even for you."

"Ouch. Don't hold back or anything."

"You know what I meant, idiot."

Robert smirked. That fucking smirk could light up the village. "Maybe, I should end things with her. Guess we can both be single for Valentine's." He said looking into his eyes. There was a look to them, one that almost begged to be read.

"If you hate her, yeah, you probably should."

Robert let out a loud sigh as he looked to the ceiling. His lips tightened, and his tongue stuck out briefly to wr his lips, an action Aaron mirrored himself as he looked on.

With another breath, Robert pulled his phone from his pocket, and quickly tapped away at the screen before putting it to his ear.

"Katie?" He spoke. "Yeah, it's me. Listen, we need to talk. Think you can sneak out? Yeah, meet you there in ten." And just like that he ended the call.

He stood from Aaron's bed, wiped a hand down his face, and finally looked at Aaron.

"Guess I'll see you later." He gave him a sad smile and walked back towards the window. "You might want to get your phone ready." His eyes gestured to Aaron's phone on his bedside table. "You know, in case this goes terribly wrong, and you have to call an ambulance." Just like that, a smile was back on his face.

As he ducked his head under the window and climbed through, he turned back, and looked back into Aaron's eyes. 

"Don't worry about Holly. You'll find someone in no time, Azza." Another smile and he was gone. He's all long limbs, and like a fucking monkey.

And…"Did he just call me Azza?"


	2. Chapter 2

**PART TWO**

* * *

_Valentine after valentine, Robert's box was full, he had always been the popular boy. He looked around the classroom and grinned as he saw the scowl on Ross Barton's face, he had only received two Valentine's day cards, he wasn't too keen on just how popular Robert was._

_Their rivalry had been going on for years, no thanks in part to their parents rival farms, and it carried into anything they did, popularity included. Unfortunately for Ross, Robert had won. He always did._

_Robert couldn't help but widen his eyes and make a face at Ross as he stared him down, he lifted his arms and placed his hands behind his neck, and leaned back into his chair. Victory was his._

_He glanced around the classroom and his grin quickly faded. The new kid, he was alone near the corner of the room. He had only started school just a couple of days ago, had just moved back with his mother, and had no friends. Aaron was his name, he had fluffy dark hair and a pair of piercing blue eyes he remembered from when their teacher introduced him to the class. He sat as his desk holding his box made to collect Valentine's day cards, it was empty._

_He had no friends._

_Robert himself had only given out a handful of valentine cards, he wasn't too keen on many of his classmates, and it so happened that he had one last card. He sat up from his victory pose and reached into his desk. He leaned down, picked up his pencil to write, then stood from his seat and walked over to the empty seat next to the lonely boy._

_"Hiya." He said to the boy and took a seat._

_"Hiya." Aaron replied as he picked up his head and looked at him._

_"This is for you." Robert leaned in and placed a card into Aaron's box. "Happy Valentine's." He smiled._

_"Is this a…" Aaron tried to ask._

_"A Valentine's card." He answered. "Yeah."_

_"But...you're a boy."_

_"And?"_

_"Aren't you supposed to give those to girls."_

_"Says who?" Robert shot back. "You can give them to mates too, yeah?"_

_Aaron's mouth did this funny turn at the edges, he tried to hide a smile. "You...you wanna be my mate."_

_"Why wouldn't I? You're not some sort of weirdo are you?" He tried to lighten the mood, in the most Robert Sugden kind of way. Smarmy little shit he was._

_Aaron strongly shook his head. "No." He answered._

_"Good. Then, mates?"_

_"Yeah." Aaron had smiled in return._

Robert had stopped Aaron from being alone once before. He couldn't let him be alone again. He had broken up with Katie because solidarity, right? 

Or at least that's what he told himself.

It certainly wasn't because of the strange way Aaron made him feel. The way Katie didn't make him feel.

He had spent the night awake, unable to sleep thinking about it. He stared at his ceiling, thinking back on memories, thinking on what it all meat, but mostly just thinking about Aaron. He could help it. Aaron was always there. Maybe that had always been the reason why he and Katie never really worked, why they never would. Maybe, maybe he…

"Fuck." He sat up with a gasp at the realisation. He loved Aaron. He wasn't quite sure what it mean, because he knew he wasn't gay, but he loved Aaron.

School had been a drag the following day, time had felt like it had come to stop, and all he wanted was to hide away in his room with his thoughts. He needed to figure out what it all meant, what he should do, and what it meant for his friendship with Aaron. 

Word had gotten around that Robert and Katie were no more, only the details had been quite different to what had actually happened. Katie had dumped him.

And now all the other girls in his class had been all over him, telling him Katie was a twat, not that he'd disagree. All hoping to be his next girlfriend. Problem was, that's not what he wanted. _They_ weren't who he wanted.

"Oi." Aaron nudged his shoulder as he took a seat next to him in class. "You okay? I uh...heard about Katie." He said grimacing. "You didn't have to do that, you know?"

If only that had been true. Maybe things wouldn't be so weird.

"I really did." His realisation blared at the back of his mind. _She isn't you._

"Guess we're both single now then." Aaron shrugged. "Not that it'll last for ya." He nodded his head to the group of girls that were looking at Robert.

Robert nervously laughed, playing along with the comment.

The following day hadn't been any better. More of the same. His head, still a mess. The girls, all after him hoping to get asked to the Valentine's dance. Katie, spreading rumors. Aaron, just there, looking his way occasionally, smiling. Aaron. He couldn't stop thinking about Aaron.

Valentine's day finally came and things had only gotten worse. Robert's useless brother Andy had asked Katie to the dance, and Ross wasn't letting him live it down. Robert Sugden had lost his girlfriend to his brother. That one stung. Not the fact that Katie was with Andy now, he could care less about that, what hurt was that Ross had something to rub in his face.

"Robble?" Aaron pulled him from his thoughts.

"Did...did you just call me Robble?" He asked, shaking his head, and further went I to call infusion when he saw the red creep into Aaron's cheeks.

"Uh…"

"What's up?" He asked, putting Aaron out of his misery. He could see the embarrassment on his face, and wondered what it meant.

"Seeing as your single now as well, you're probably not going to that stupid dance, yeah?" Aaron asked.

Robert shook his head in response. "Wouldn't be caught dead there." 

"You, uh...you wanna hang out tonight?" Aaron asked. "I snuck this from me mum's pub." He grinned as he sneakily showed Robert the bottle of whiskey tucked away in his backpack.

"Aaron Dingle, I don't believe you're mature enough for that." Robert smirked. "Me on the other hand…"

"Jog on. You're only a year older than me." Aaron barked in return.

"I said mature, Aaron, not old."

"Whatever...you want to or not?"

"Count me in."

Everything felt fine again, normal even, the way they would have felt weeks ago. All it took was a couple of swigs from the bottle, some sharp grimacing at the taste, and a few good laughs. They had snuck into the building at the cricket pavilion, a little breaking and entering never hurt, not when you were hanging around with a Single anyway.

"Sorry about all that shit Katie's been spreading." Aaron gave him a sad look.

"S'okay." The words were a bit slurred. "I should have expected it. She's such a bitch."

"So...so why were you with her?"

"I...dunno. Not really." He scratched the back of his neck. "I just...guess I'm just trying to fit in. Trying to do what all the other blokes our age are doing." The whiskey had gotten to him. He was being more honest than he normally would. "You know, how sometimes you just feel different...from everyone else, and all you want to do is fit in?"

He noticed Aaron swallow hard then nod in reply. "Always."

"You don't even have to try. You're a Dingle." Robert slapped the back of his hand across Aaron's shoulder as he took another gulp from the bottle. "The whole village is practically a Dingle clan. You don't even have to try and fit in."

"Shut up." Aaron wiped the back of his hand against his mouth, handing the bottle over to Robert.

Robert took a large gulp, the warmth in his throat making him feel all the more relaxed, and smiled just before Aaron shoved him back in return for the slap.

"Oh you're so dead, Dingle." He launched himself at Aaron, tackling him to the floor in a fit of laughter.

They were a tangled mess of limbs as they rolled around the floor, poking and nudging at each other, laughing like maniacs. It wasn't long before Robert rolled them over, and pinned Aaron to the floor. His hands both locking Aaron's wrist in place above his head. They held frozen in place, inches away from each other. So close they could feel their breaths. The sharp smell of the whiskey only making their senses ever so relaxed.

It felt like an eternity, as if the world had stood still, as if nothing else existed, and Aaron leaned forward, softly placing his lips to his own. A kiss.

Aaron Dingle had kissed him.

Aaron Dingle had kissed him, and he kissed him back.

Aaron Dingle had kissed him, and he kissed him back, and everything felt right. Everything felt like it made sense.

He swallowed hard and pulled away, his lips already missing the feeling of Aaron's. Panic had reared its ugly face.

"Did...did I do something wrong?" Aaron asked, the red in his cheeks so prominent, his voice laced with disappointment.

And just like that the panic was gone. "No." Robert answered, his fingers gently tracing his own lips. "It's just…"

"I'm sorry." Aaron's voice was sad now, his eyes the same, looking like a puppy who had just been rejected.

"I'm not." Robert's voice was soft, softer than normal. "Can I...can I kiss you again?"

Aaron's eyes sparkled, a soft smile forming on his face, he nodded his head.

Robert moved back in, his hands moving up, and taking Aaron's face into them. Their lips met and a new warmth to vertook them. 

When they finally broke apart, they say in silence for what felt like an eternity. Robert's own mind moving a million miles, thinking of what this all meant.

"You remember that Valentine's card you gave me ages ago?" Aaron finally broke the silence.

Robert smiled and nodded. As if he could ever forget. "Yeah, of course."

"I still have it." Aaron gave him a shy smile.

"Be my Valentine." Robert blurted out. He still wasn't sure what this all meant, what anyone else would think, but it didn't matter. For the first time in years, he felt like himself, his actual self. It didn't matter what happened with anyone else, not his friends,.not his family. What mattered was that he felt like himself for once. What mattered was what he felt for Aaron, and what Aaron maybe felt for him.

"Yeah." Aaron smiled in return and leaned forward, placing another soft kiss to Robert's lips.

"Do...do you want to be my boyfriend?" Aaron asked.

Robert felt the warmth in his cheeks as he smiled. Fuck he was smiling really wide. He could feel it. He could feel everything. The soft ache in his cheeks from smiling. The tingle in his fingertips. The slight haze in his head. His heart beating faster than ever. Everything felt right. Everything felt amazing 

He looked Aaron in the eyes and smiled.

"Yeah."


End file.
